| A noon
meal, a half
hour break before 1300, and then plenty to keep him busy until "knock
off
ship's work" is passed at 1530. In addition to this, add 8 hours of
watch
to be stood in the same period of time, and you get an idea of life at
sea. but isn't all "eat, sleep, and standing watches". During
those
few hours a day that a man has to himself, one sees a hundred and one
activities,
innumerable pastimes and hobbies; reading, writing home, leathercraft,
building models, games, listening to any one of a dozen phonographs
(take
your pick of your type of music), and of course the evening "flick"
shown
at 2000 on the mess decks, or weather permitting, on the 02 level aft.
Making
preparations
for that next unrep, sprucing up the bright work, chipping and painting
(will it ever be all painted?), and just keeping the ship's appearance
up to snuff are enough to keep all hands busy. But life quickly
falls
into a routine at sea. The time seems to fly by quickly, and
somehow
things get done. There seems to develop, between each man and the ship,
a kind of rapport---a feeling on each man's part that his ship is a
good
ship, that she can do her job, and that through all the cold and hot
weather,
through all the rough times and hard work, she's his ship---a ship he
can
be proud of.
The
KAWISHIWI in a
real sense, is a city afloat. Though she has the capicity to carry
enough
fuel to drive all the cars in the city of Los Angeles to New York and
back,
she boasts living accommodations for nearly 300 men, messing facilities
large enough for a small hotel, bake shops, a complete laundry,
air
conditioning, tailor shop, barber shop, a complete ship's store, two
lounges,
a library, sick bay facilities large enough to serve as a hospital
during
emergencies, a photo laboratory, and, for pure relaxation---three movie
projectors and film library full of the best in recent movies.
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